Broccoli, Cauliflower and Leek Soup

If there’s one thing that my blog has taught me over the course of the past few weeks, it’s that almost every ingredient can be enjoyed by all, if only it’s prepared in an attractive manner. For instance, my recipes for roasted sweet potato and parsnip soup and root vegetable mash have already proved that parsnip can be enjoyable. Likewise, this soup recipe has largely transformed my once obnoxious attitude toward the cauliflower.

The main suspect in the case against the cauliflower is the somewhat ubiquitous cauliflower cheese. You see, this loathsome dish tends to be one of two things; insipid or watery. However, it could be considered somewhat brutish to judge what was once my least favourite brassica, by a largely awful dish. Instead, why not follow my lead and enjoy the poor vegetable in this exquisite soup?

Of course, we must be careful not to forget the other two members of this culinary triumvirate, as they play equally important roles. Since the broccoli and cauliflower are both brassicas, they naturally support one another in terms of flavour. As such, this soup possesses a rather bold flavour, backed up by the freshness of the leek. Therefore, it has a very neatly balanced flavour that is hard to tire of.

Finally, you may have noticed that this soup contains what is best described as a healthy dose of butter, an addition my gastronomic conscience deemed essential. However, since such an addition has the potentially irritating and problematic effect of rendering the dish unattractive to those of you with infamous dietary requirements, you may be forgiven for omitting the offending dairy derivative. However, such an allowance only applies if you are either vegan or have an intolerance to dairy… Enjoy!

Broccoli, Cauliflower and Leek Soup

Serves 4

Ingredients:

• 200g broccoli florets

• 200g cauliflower florets

• 1 large leek, finely sliced

• 2 small potatoes, diced

• 700ml vegetable stock

• 40g salted butter

• Salt and pepper

Method:

1. Fry the shredded leek in the butter until translucent, add the potato and then the stock, boil until the potato is soft.

2. Tip in the florets, cook for a further 5 minutes before blending using a food processor or stick blender. Return the soup to the pan, heat through and season to taste. Serve with a hunk of bread and a slab of butter.

Cost: In truth, we got the florets for 10p in a supermarket reduced section, but broccoli and cauliflower are cheap even at full price. Indeed, the entire batch of soup should set one back, at most, £1.70. Of course, that depends on the prices in your local area, but it’s rather difficult for me to estimate that!

144 comments on “Broccoli, Cauliflower and Leek Soup”

The soup looks very good, but you might also want to consider cauliflower done in an Indian style (if you haven’t already). The spiciness of Indian food really elevates the cauliflower into something tasty. Cheers!

Lovely soup Nick, but I must disagree on the cauli cheese, yes it can be as you described, but has potential to be a dish of such comfort and warming heart if made with care to the ingredients, and in nature totally frugal…..may I challenge thee to rethink and have a go at cauli cheese once more, but with a thick unctous blue cheese and mustard enriched sauce?
I’d love to see a FF version. 🙂
Cheers
Marcus

It looks lovely and no doubt tastes lovely too. Wondered whether it caused any of the infamous broccoli and cauliflower side effects??

I also have to disagree about cauliflower cheese. It’s a favourite here, full of flavour and in no way watery. Made with Cauliflower, broccoli plus leeks and mushrooms and homemade cheesey sauce, sometimes with a crumble topping but often not… Totally yummy.

I might be vegan but butter is king of our home. I just don’t eat it :(. Why would you mess about with non dairy buttery type spreads when they just aren’t butter and they certainly aren’t healthy for you? I just don’t eat it…I sub with good quality extra virgin olive oil and at least I get to smell the delicious creations that I make for Steve ;)…(there aren’t any calories in smells are there? I can’t get drummed out of the vegan confraturnity because I secretly inhale the smells of butter and bacon and buttered toast and fried eggs can I?!)… This soup looks healthy…deceptively so. I love soup but haven’t actually ever eaten green soup. Must try this. I love cauliflower especially roasted (YUM!) so can’t quite fathom the disclaimer BUT I admit…I also love Brussels sprouts and Broad beans which puts me in the “clinically insane” bracket for some people out there 😉

That’s a shame 😀 – though, not really… I don’t like it when people try to veganise things that could never be properly vegan… technically you are inhaling particles of meat and dairy, so… not really vegan :D. I guess I;ve never had a good one made for me… broad beans are all right, but I think brussels sprouts are another ingredient I’ll have to devise a crafty recipe for.

Hey…I have been the unimpressed recipient of half a stink bug in my chard once a long time ago…took me a fair while to eat it again after that little event! If we get down to the nitty gritty our food is FULL of life… anything that we ferment has life in it, anything that we eat has a nice fuzzy coating (unseen of course or we would all die of anorexia) of fungi, bacteria and certain inert viri who are just waiting for the right conditions to do their thang. It’s a bit like those Buddhist monks who walk along sweeping the ground as they go to stop them from squishing something…sometimes you can take things a little bit too far ;). Brussels sprouts are one of my favourite veggies and turn broad beans into a pesto fit for a king and no-one will complain. It’s all about the delivery and the taste and if you can deliver something that tastes good, you win! 🙂

Would love to see your recipe for brussels sprouts and broad bean pesto, if you have time. I love all veggies, except maybe banana squash (I like a bit of flavour in them), and that sounded great. I could see using it as a dip for tortilla chips . . . or piling it on top of a baked potato . . . ~ Linne

Dude, you crack me up, I can’t imagine you not naturally loving cauliflower and parsnips, but then again, I don’t think there’s a vegetable that I’m not in love with. I like how you’ve only just cooked the broccoli and cauliflower so that they stay vibrant and fresh in the soup. Oh and thanks for adding me to your blogroll, I’m flattered!

Looks delicious, I love a good soup. I’m not the greatest fan of broccoli but it makes damn fine soup!
The secret to awesome Cauliflower cheese is to use a good strong, tasty cheddar cheese and to under-cook the cauliflower so it retains some bite, al dente if you will. I rarely bake it or grill it, just serve it as is. Delish.

Thanks :). I’m not either, but you’re quite right. I’m sure I could make a great cauliflower cheese, but I still don’t think I’d like it… besides, it was more a comment on the ones other people had made for me! 😀

Like you, I’m not a big fan of cauliflower, but I made this recipe tonight. I didn’t have vegetable stock on hand or time to make it from scratch so I used a tamarind stock cube instead, which I diluted because I wasn’t sure how strong the flavour would be. Turned out really great and was very quick. Thanks for helping me broaden my cauliflower world!!!

This looks and sounds like a treat! Unfortunately, I had an allergic reaction to broccoli over the summer and can no longer eat it. 🙁 Womp womp. Maybe I’ll make a batch for the husband sometime, though!

Is it possible you reacted to the sprays/fertilizers used to grow the broccoli, and not to the veg itself? I would try a wee bit of organic just to test it myself. But depends how bad a reaction you had. And that’s just me, anyway ~ always pushing the envelope . . . ~ Linne

I adore both parsnips and cauliflower, and find them not in the least offensive, so take my comment with that in mind, but I do find that roasting cauliflower before using them in any recipe tends to eliminate the wateriness. Beautiful colors in this soup, Frugal!